Prerequisits:

Completed second-cycle Bologna degree in a relevant field or a university degree of level VII.

Content (Syllabus outline):

This course explores the spatial dimensions and systemic challenges of the transition to sustainability. Drawing on geography, it examines how places, landscapes, and human–environment systems shape and are shaped by sustainable development efforts. Through a critical analysis of resource management, spatial organisation, participatory planning and behaviour change strategies, students will develop an informed understanding of the changes required for a just and resilient future. The course links global frameworks such as the SDGs and Doughnut Economics with local practices, including commons governance, sustainable tourism and citizen-led initiatives.

The content will be organized in six sections:

1. Introduction (theoretical overview of the sustainability concept, sustainable development goals, and the challenges in achieving them, sustainability transitions)
2. Measuring and monitoring sustainable development (standard systems, criteria and indicators, doughnut economics)
3. Society’s attitude to resources (human-environment systems, sustainable management of natural and cultural resources, ecosystem services and their contribution to humans, nature-based solutions, food systems, commons and collective governance, landscape and sustainability, environmental justice, vulnerability, resilience)
4. Organization of society in space (sustainable tourism, sustainable mobility, and form of settlements, sharing economy, rural-urban interactions)
5. Awareness of sustainable practices (information and marketing, behavioral change strategies, youth climate movements)
6. Role of participatory planning (identification of key stakeholders, public participation, community-engaged planning, citizen science)

Readings:

• Richardson, K., Steffen, W., et al. (2023). Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries. Science Advances, 9(39). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adh2458
• Thiele, L. P. (2017). Sustainability (Key concepts). 2nd Edition. Polity Press: Cambridge.
• Robertson, M. (2017). Communicating Sustainability: Making sustainability legible. Routledge: London.
• Vodeb, K. (2014). Trajnostni razvoj turističnih destinacij alpsko-jadranskega prostora. Založba Univerze na Primorskem: Koper.
• United Nations (2015). Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E
• Millenium Ecosystem Assesment (2005). Ecosystems and human well-being: Synthesis. Washington. https://www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.356.aspx.pdf
• Carson, R (2002). Silent Spring. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt:Boston.
• WCED (1987). Our Common Future. Oxford University Press: Oxford
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Objectives and competences:

The objective of the course is for students to acquire advanced and up-to-date theoretical knowledge in the field of sustainable development, with particular emphasis on its spatial dimensions. Students will learn to recognise and critically evaluate sustainability challenges using practical examples of spatial planning and management.

The course will deepen the understanding of tools and indicators for measuring and monitoring sustainable development, emphasise the role of participatory processes and promote awareness of sustainable practices in different sectors (e.g. tourism, mobility, entrepreneurship) and territorial contexts (e.g. protected areas, agricultural areas).

As part of this course, students develop competences in applied, independent and critically reflective work — skills that are essential for conducting doctoral-level research and contributing to interdisciplinary sustainability transitions.

Intended learning outcomes:

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Explain the concept and key goals of sustainable development, including its spatial dimensions.
• Describe and critically evaluate basic approaches to measuring and monitoring sustainable development (e.g. indicators, frameworks such as SDGs and doughnut economics).
• Understand the principles and evaluate the challenges of sustainable resource management in different environmental and cultural contexts.
• Analyse the spatial organisation of society and evaluate the challenges of implementing sustainable practices in different territorial contexts.
• Understand and apply methods for participatory processes, including critically assessing stakeholder input and weighting evidence in specific planning cases.

Learning and teaching methods:

Types of learning/teaching:

• Frontal teaching
• Work in smaller groups or pair work
• Independent students work
• e-learning

Teaching methods:

• Explanation
• Conversation/discussion/debate
• Case studies
• Different presentation
• Inviting guests from companies

Assessment:

• Applied and interactive assessments (100 %)

Lecturer’s references:

• Ribeiro, D., Gabrovec, M. (2025). Transformation of cultural landscapes: Case studies from Slovenia. V: Bański, J. (Ed.). Agricultural Land Use: Structural Transformations, Environment Challenges, Planning and Policy. Routledge.
• Ribeiro, D., Simčič, M. (2024). Examples of human disturbances in the Dinaric karst landscape since the early twentieth century : a case study of Bela krajina. V: FUERST-BJELIŠ, Borna (ur.), et al. Environmental histories of the Dinaric Karst. Springer.
• Polajnar Horvat, K., Ribeiro, D. (2023). Urban public spaces as restorative environments: the case of Ljubljana. International journal of environmental research and public health 20- 3.
• Zorn, M., Breg Valjavec, M., Ribeiro, D. (2021). Preoblikovanje pokrajine zaradi pridobivanja lignita – na primeru Šoštanja in okolice. V: Iz zgodovine Šoštanja. Zveza zgodovinskih društev Slovenije: Ljubljana.
• Burnet, J. E., Ribeiro, D., Liu, A. W. (2021). Transition and transformation of a rural landscape: abandonment and rewilding. Sustainability 13-9.